Letter: Skip Bertman deserves honor

Friday night, thousands of LSU baseball fans will be reaching for hankies and sniveling as we will witness a most-historic event: the naming of Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.

As we all anticipate the significance of the occasion of the dedication of the baseball field on that night, in honor of this quite remarkable man, we will be flooded with memories of 18 glorious years of the Skip Bertman era, which began 30 years ago.

We will reminisce about the highlights of that era — five national championships in 10 years, seven SEC championships, Skip selected as one of the two best college baseball coaches in the past century, his number (15) retired, Skip Bertman Drive named after him, an LSU scholastic scholarship donated by friends in his name and Skip’s community involvement and numerous awards received as an outstanding citizen of our community. In those 18 years as LSU head coach, he truly rose to the pinnacle of his profession.

Skip deserves this honor. We can all call him our beloved coach, role model and mentor to hundreds of outstanding ball players and kids, extraordinary athletic director emeritus, community leader and friend. Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field is here to stay, continuing to break national attendance records year after year.

Skip, made Alex Box our field of dreams. Skip built it. They came. Congratulations to a dear friend who heartily deserves this honor. We’ll fill the stadium Friday night — and we’ll bring our tissues.